- An early twentieth century art movement that critically questioned even ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art forms. It was born as a consequence of the collapse during World War I of social and moral values which developed to that time. Dada artists produced works which were nihilistic or reflected a cynical attitude toward social values, and, at the same time, irrational-- absurd and playful, emotive and intuitive. Less a style than a cultural outlook, Dadaists typically produced art objects in unconventional forms produced by unconventional methods. In Latin American, the sense of rupture and bold assertions seen in the Modernist manifestos of the early part of the century can be seen as an influence of Dada's cultural skepticism, attack on bourgeois values and artistic conventions.

Depth

The apparent distance from front to back or near to far in an artwork. Techniques of perspective are used to create the illusion of depth in paintings or drawings. Examples of these techniques are: controlling variation between sizes of depicted subject, overlapping them, and placing those that are on the depicted ground as lower when nearer and higher when deeper. Also see aerial perspective, chiaroscuro, herringbone perspective, and linear perspective.

Drawing

- Depiction of shapes and forms on a surface chiefly by means of lines. Color and shading may be included. A major fine art technique in itself, drawing is the basis of all pictorial representation, and an early step in most art activities. Though an integral part of most painting, drawing is generally differentiated from painting by the dominance of line over mass. The artist's choices of drawing media-- tools and surface-- tend to determine whether a drawing will be more or less linear or painterly in quality.There are many sorts of drawing techniques, varying according to the effect the artist wants, and depending on whether the drawing is an end in itself-- an independent and finished work of art-- or a preliminary to some other medium or form-- although distinct from the final product, such drawings also have intrinsic artistic value. Preliminary drawings include various exercises (e.g., contour drawing, gesture drawing, figure drawing, drawing from the flat), as well as sketches and studies, cartoons and underdrawings.

Drypoint

An intaglio printing process in which burrs are left on the plate by the pointed needle (or "pencil") that directly inscribes lines. A kind of engraving which has a soft, fuzzy line because of the metal burrs.
Its disadvantage is that because such plates wear out quickly, editions are usually limited to 50 or fewerprints.